Facing It

Sharon paused just inside the breakroom, the door almost hitting her back. Her eyes traveled hopefully around the room and finding no relief, floated to search the corridor behind her.

"Don't worry, I don't have the plague."

Her eyes shot forward at the words. Andy was sitting at a table, reading a newspaper and eating his lunch. He didn't look up, but clearly was aware of her to the finest detail.

Not that she wasn't aware of him. Oh no, since their date she was hyperaware of him. The whole room seemed to be filled with him; his presence, his scent, his thoughts. She had barely seen him today aside from the morning meeting, but it felt like she couldn't get away from him.

Trying to act like herself, she took a few casual steps towards the kitchen. There was a reason for her to be here and he wasn't going to scare her into running away. Not that he couldn't, but she was willing to pretend.

"Isn't that slightly dramatic?"

"Oh, come on!" He turned to follow her. "You've had me running across town with Amy. Amy, Sharon! I'm too old for Amy."

"I haven't been trying to get you to date her, Andy," she said lightly while opening the fridge.

"No, but she has entirely too much... enthusiasm."

"Such a shame, but I'd think your vast depths of cynicism would balance that out in no time."

"I'd rather be your partner." She snorted. This wasn't picking lab partners at school, and Sharon knew he didn't really mind working with Amy despite their differences. Sometimes it was surprising how he could complain about every single thing. To her eternal luck she found his quirks endearing. "But you've been avoiding me."

She stopped her rummaging. "I haven't." A lie. "This week has been spreadsheet central, and I know you're not interested."

She located her salad and a bottle of water and moved along the counter to pick up utensils. In a perfect example of avoidance, she decided to set up for a after lunch cup of tea. She got the selection of tea bags out, rifled through them twice before settling on something light and a little floral. Laying out a cup, a spoon and filling the kettle with water all took little time affording her a moment to think strategy.

Turning around, Sharon was happy to note Andy had gone back to his newspaper. With a happy little skip in her step, she made to cross the room towards the door and her own office.

On passing his table, her retreat was stopped by a lowly murmured, "I thought we weren't supposed to let off the clock crap affect our on the clock stuff."

Sharon paused, biting her lip. He was right, of course. That was one of their deals, but it was so much easier to talk about it in theory than put it into action.

Andy glanced at her. He was waiting for some kind of a retort, but her conflicted thoughts showed on her face.

"Right. I know this is not the place, but it is absolutely the time, so," he kicked a chair out from under the table, "sit."

She glanced out to the corridor with a longing that was hard to miss. Instead of making her escape, though, she placed her salad box and the bottle of water on the table and took the assigned chair. She scooted it closer and leaned back crossing her arms.

"My my, aren't we domineering today."

"Sometimes you gotta be." He studied her with a penetrating gaze. It was nearly enough to make her squirm. "I don't mind not getting a second date, but I do mind being thrown out of a working partnership that has been working well."

"I'm not—" he stopped her objection with a raised palm.

"You are, neither of us is stupid." He took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts. "Look, Sharon... We can keep going as friends, no hard feelings, but we did well until..."

"I need a little time to—"

"— to adjust. I know."

"It doesn't sound like you do, Andy." Sharon tilted her head and considered both him and her words. "I'm not throwing you out of a partnership, and I don't usually give up on things after one try."

"Are you angling for a second date?"

"I don't need to angle for anything," she said oozing confidence. Fake confidence, as it was, since she barely finished the sentence before her voice and poise crumbled. "Yes," she whispered.

"Okay," Andy said. His tone sounded more hopeful, his pose relaxing in the blink of an eye. He leaned over the table and gently circled her wrist with his fingers. "So, what do you think, maybe we just don't label this? Do whatever feels good?"

Sharon shook her head and pulled her hand away. Apologetically she nodded towards the corridor.

"I had a chat with a friend about our date, us... Me. I named no names but I'm sure he knew. You've come up in conversation before."

"He?"

"Not naming any names, either but..." She tilted her head to finish the statement. "It was quite, hm, revealing, but absolutely mortifying." She picked on the label of her bottle, then popped the lid of her salad. "I was putting way too much pressure on me and on that night and I hadn't realized that we," she gestured between them, "already had a relationship. We are doing this all in the wrong order."

"Is there a wrong order?"

"In my mind," she rolled her eyes, "apparently so."

He barked a laugh as she had expected. That made her hopeful that they were at least somewhat on the same page. Sharon knew he understood that she had her hang-ups, just like he had his own. They were nowhere near done with the discussion and they both knew it, but this, hopefully, was a start.

"It wasn't a bad night anyway," she said moving on from the subject and to her lunch salad. "Not the smoothest—"

"—not because I hadn't planned it," Andy dropped in meaningfully.

"Hm. Well, for whatever reasons, but I did enjoy the company and the conversation."

"Food, not so much?"

She ignored the comment. And went to tell him about Rusty calling her 'Mom'. There hadn't been time to chat with Andy about anything personal, and this wasn't something she wanted to tell him on the phone. He was almost as happy and excited as she had been, which made her feel even better.

They let the conversation flow naturally from one subject to another. It was marked by the easy rapport they had managed to find somewhere along the crazy road they had embarked on a little over a year ago. While they talked and she finished her salad, Andy snapped the kettle on and brought both of them a cup of tea.

Despite having wanted to avoid him, it was easy for Sharon to slip into their usual comradery. Having been Sharon for a good amount of time, she had learned it to be usually the case. The things you avoided built themselves to be more than they actually were. Besides, it had never been about him: it was all her, all in her head. She didn't deal well with surprises or changes and this situation between them was both of those.

"Speaking of paperwork," Sharon said as they were ready to leave the breakroom, "I've got a memo that wants for your signature."

"Whatever it is, it was Provenza."

"No... No, I think this was all you." She gave him a pointed look over her glasses. "Follow me."

He did follow her through the bullpen to her office. Sharon rounded her desk, riffled through a pile of papers and pulled one out. After quickly scanning it, she slipped it across the desk to face him and placed a pen across it.

Andy picked it up and took a cautious look. On seeing the first lines he paused in reading and raised his eyes at her. She appeared nervous, looking down at crossed hands and fiddling with her thumbs.

He went back to reading. Sharon waited quietly for him to finish and react.

"You sure about this?"

She nodded. "It's about time, don't you think?"

Sighing, Andy placed the paper on the desk and took a seat.

"You don't think?"

"No, no, I'm all for what it says. Do I want every cop and their aunt knowing our business? No. Do I know this needs to happen? Absolutely." He glanced back at the memo. "But what gets me at this point, is... are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Sharon? Right now?"

Sharon took a startled look at the open door and the empty room beyond before lowering herself in her chair.

"Andy, I'm not second-guessing, I'm adjusting."

"What's the difference?"

She was about to answer when out of nowhere she was interrupted by a quick knock on the door.

"Captain?" At Amy's question, Andy snatched the memo from the desk and folded it. He cleared his throat and scratched his neck. Amy in turn looked apprehensive. "Sorry to interrupt."

"No need, Amy," Sharon tried with a smile. "What is it?"

"They rang from downstairs, they have Mrs. Scott coming up."

Mrs. Scott was one of the witnesses in their most recent case. She had promised to come to PD for a interview sometime after work but they had not been expecting her for a couple of hours.

"Oh, alright." Sharon switched her focus, "Andy, you up for it?"

"Sure thing, Captain." He pushed himself up by the armrests. "Come on, Sykes."

Sharon watched him walk out, stop by his desk and slide the folded memo in a drawer. Literally tabling the conversation.